Snow: Cold Snap Could Hit Monday Commuters

Commuters are being warned of potentially difficult journeys on Monday when several centimetres of snow is expected across large swathes of the UK.

After the Met Office issued a weekend weather warning of severe cold, ice and snow, temperatures have continued to fall across the UK.

Snow has already begun to fall in Scotland and will slowly spread south today and overnight delivering a light dusting, but a heavier dump is expected to land over north Wales, central England and northern England tomorrow.

Most of the areas will see between 2cm and 5cm settle while some areas such as Yorkshire will get up to 10cm.

Cold weather will take hold of all the UK, but southern England and Wales is likely to be spared snow.

The Met Office has a level two weather warning in place until Tuesday covering the whole of England.

On Saturday, temperatures in some areas were between 2C and 5C (36F-41F), but in Inverness and Aviemore in the Scottish Highlands they never got above -1C (28F).

Sky weather presenter Jo Wheeler said: "Snow will continue over Scotland early today, but the wintry weather will also spread into northern England and Wales by the end of the day.

"Monday will see the rain/snow belt completing its sweep of the country, but as an easterly flow sets in, many eastern counties can expect to receive streams of wintry showers."

Forecasters said the snow is expected to clear away, but it will stay cold until the end of the week, and there may be more snow showers, particularly near eastern coasts and south east England, on Tuesday and early Wednesday.

The AA has warned that 75% of drivers are not prepared for conditions on the roads, and urged drivers to carry an essential winter kit and check their cars before getting behind the wheel.

The RAC is expecting up to 56,000 breakdowns and widespread disruption.

It has placed extra patrols on stand-by to help stranded motorists and said call-outs are expected to rise by 20% or more.

The Highways Agency said it is "well prepared" for winter conditions, adding that a fleet of 500 state-of-the-art winter vehicles were on standby.

A spokeswoman said: "Our roads will be treated whenever there is a risk of ice or snow. However, even when roads have been treated, drivers should still take care, especially on stretches where the local road layout or landscape means there could be a greater risk of ice forming."